GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 788, 11 April 1910, Page 10

GENERAL FARMING NEWS.

. The hemp market still continues in a deplorably- weak state. Good fair is quoted at £20 10s. to £20 12s. 6d., and lair from £19 10s. to £19 12s. 6d. Very little business is .doing, as many, of , th'p; millers.: have.made contracts ahead for their outputs, and buyers are gen-, erally holding back, for a still lower range of' prices. A considerable • proportion of the present output of Jiernp is in -fulfilment of .forward contract's, made on a £22 good fair basis. There is v no:talk..sp. far of any, df the, mills closing down; and output for tho season is expected to.■come.somewhere in the neighbourhood of thtf previous estimate of 20,000 tons: . ,

Mr. G. H. Seweii, of Mayfield, Canterbury, >has just threshed seventeen acres of wheat, which yielded 42 bushels per acre. Although Mayfield is not notea for wheat-growing, there have been some excellent crops this season, especially on the banks of the Hinds River. - .The farmers, in this district (says the "Pahiatua Herald") are to be congratulated on-the fact that a herd of 200 two and three-year-old dairy cows has just been bought from different local breeders by Mr. J. S. George, of Rptorua. The cattle, which have been carefully. selected by Mr. Boyd, of the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency; and Mr. T. Quirk, of Konini, are leaving for Kaharoa, near Rptorua, where Mr. George intends to go in for dairying on a comprehensive scale. It speaks well for the reputation of the district that intending buyers should take the trouble to come nearly two, hundred miles to suit their requirements. ■ .

•'! At.the stock sale at Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, ; on Monday last, a line of fat lambs sent forward by Messrs. J. Orr and Co., of Waitohi, realised 133.'-.per head. There were about 200 in the line. The lambs from this farm hnve topped the market for some years past. Since' the sale, of the Lagmhor property, near Westerfield, Canterbury, several of the buyers have been offered an increase on the amount paid for the land. ' During the' last few days the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative Association has disposed of the propertyconsisting of 170 acres, all in four-year-old grass—which was purchased by Mr. W.'H. Rule at £19 10s., to Messrs. AVoolley Bros, at £20 10s. .Messrs., AYoolley Bros, have land adjoining. \

, Although the.settlers on tho Carrington Estate have decided to establish a co-operative dairy factory, and hope to havo it ready for next season, this will ! not, our Carterton correspondent writes, make any material difference to the Belvedore Dairy Factory, which had an addition made to it last season to accommodate tho Carringtou settlers. Practically the whole of the present suppliers from there to the Belvedwe factory will continuo the old arrangement, .as the proposed now factory will not offer them any better facilities than the Belvedere factory, but. will 'bo a great boon to thoso further away on the settlement. Mr. S. W. Luxford, an erstwhile arid very _old resident of Palmerstdn, is on a visit to the town (writes our Palmerston correspondent). Mr. Luxford has taken up land at Tauranga, and speaks vory highly of the productiveness of the soil thoro, clover growing to two feet high, and maize over 14ft. I

There was a record trucking of sheep at Domett (Canterbury) on Wednesday. Two trains were sent away comprising seventy-six trucks, in all over 500U sheep. The yards were all filled, and sheep blocked the road for a mile from the station. Trucking ■• commenced 'at 6 a.m., and was not finished until i p.m.

The "North Otago Times" says,that one fortunate potato-grower in the Oamaru district took £56 worth of "potatoes off a single acre. Fortunately for the .;, potato-growers the blight •■ is not so bad as in other places,- where •there has been a greater rainfall. The good crops of North Otago make: good tho devastation'caused further north by the disease. . . -

Tho "Otago Daily Times" states that the extent to which southern pastoralists are hurrying forward both sheep and lambs for freezing is quite phenomenal. At.the Burnside works, for instance, 1600 animals per day are being slaughtered and placed in the freezing chamber. Consequently storage capacity is being severely taxed. Tho size of the majority of the freezing establishments in' New Zealand necessitates a clearing out about every two weeks, but the facilities for so doing are not offering at the. present time. Another factor in the cap is. that this year rabbit trapping commenced earlier than usual, : and: the intimation that has now been given by some of the freezing companies that they will bo unable to accept, further consignments of rabbits after to-day is likely to have a somewhat paralysing , effect on the industry in. some quarters

The following are the results for! the' season up to March 31, at two wellknown Otago dairy, factoriqs. Tho figures for the (corresDotnding period of last season are given in parentheses: —Mataura—Milk received, 072,894 gallons (526,709 gallons); cheese made, 6(J5,6161b. (545,0101b.); cash paid to suppliers, £10,3-12 (£10,064); price for butter-fat, 10d. (12d.). The figures for the Tuturau factory are Milk received, 176,346 gallons (138,210 gallons)'; cheese made, 150,7161b. (117,6271b.); price for butter-fat, 10d. (12d.); cash paid to suppliers, £2665 (£2058).

In' the Loburn district, Canterbury, there has been a .very satisfactory wheat threshing, it. being estimated that in no instanco has there. been less than 30 bushels per acre. • On. one farm of 09 acres the yield was 40 bushels, wbile another had 38 bushels,-'of iui' average, one of the fields reaching 5S bushels. On another farm, wliere 46 bushels were reaped last year, 45 bushels .woro harvested this year. The grain is .bright , and well filled out. Most of the wheat was solid Tuscan, with which tho farmers appear, to. be well pleased.". Tho oats' crop suffered ' from tho caterpillar post, but on' some of tho farms Algerian oats did well. On one fairly largo holding 45 busliels of this variety of oats were harvested/.' ''■ ' : ' ; ' ' ! The "Eangitikei Advocate," in its ■rural, notes, says the branches of tho .Farmers' Union seem to bo languishing from lack of-interest. The membership seems to be' fairly "good, but the work of the various branches does not seem to be very fairly distributed. At Sandon on Saturday eight out" of a membership 'of -thirty attended the annual meeting!:. When accepting .tho offico of secretary for another term, Mr. W. E. Pearce said that he would onlyr do so on tho understanding, that moro interest would bo shown by members and the farming community generally working of . tho branch during'-'the'coming'year. ■ Through tho energy of a few of the progressive farmers of the district co-operative farm experiments had been started and the price of a drill for the .work had been guaranteed. Less than half the amount required for payment had been subscribed. Tho experiments wero for the good of the whole country, yet comparatively few take a live interest in the movement. . \ ' The Hiwiuui correspondent of the Feilding "Star" states that the whole countryside- is looking magnificent. The fine farms, especially on the Watershed Road, are prolific in grass and maize, the latter crop boing evident on most of the farms, and tho stock are all looking : and- doing well. .■ ... ,

The Takapau Ploughing Club.is endeavouring to arrange for the holding of a championship ploughing meeting in Hawke's Bay.

.: Though the southern freezing com- • panies have decided to refuse to roceive rabbits after to-day, this is not going.' to. bring Southland's rabbit industry to a standstill.- The rabbiters are finding it quite profitable\enough to go ahead, and get their returns from tho skins alone., . ' ■ ■ . ; 'A disease in' walnut trees is reported from Banks Peninsula. Soon after the young fruit appeared on the trees black spots were seen on the clusters of 'fruit. These spots grew as the fruit swelled out,' till the trees seemed to have received a peppering of shot from a gun. On carefully examining the inside of the nuts, they were found to contain smal Ired worms or- grubs, and tho kerne) was black, and decayed right through. The few that havo remained on the trees till ripe seem to bo sound and good, but there is no crop !eft This disease is not in all tho gardens. It seems to attack the old trees, die foliage of which turns to a dirty yellow instead of boing dark green. The young and vigorous'trees seem to have escaped the attacks A deputation from tho Teviot fruitgrowers has been at the Bluff making observations'and inouiries into cold-1 chamber storage. The object is to establish facilities of this kind at Boxburgh in connection with the, securing and dispatch of their fruit crops. To .save the fruit from deterioration they have at present to rush it upon the market, whereas tlio cooling process would afford, time and opportunity for its more advantageous disposal. They are also making inquiries as to traction engines, and from what can be learned tho gap between Toyiot and the railway will shortly bo bridged over by that ■method. Mr. Suttio has now installed his flax machine at tho Awahou mill, Foxton. This is the second Suttie patent installed on tho coast, the other one being at Mr. R. lloss's now mill. Prior to the installation of this wet scutcher tho Awahou mill. had . been using a Seifert washer.

The A. and L. Seifcrt Company's Paialta fl.ixmiH has stopped stripping, and is at present scutching up prior to closing down for the winter. , Tho mills of Temukanui, Ltd., are likely to ran throughout the winter. Some very, line yields of Velvet wheat are reported from a farm near tho mouth of the Rangitata at South-bank. Two large paddocks threshed 40 and '12 bushels to the acre. The wheat was of excellent' quality.